Towns

boats and boating

Vineyard Haven harbor was lit up on Saturday evening by a fully
involved boat fire. Tisbury firemen and harbor masters from two towns
responded to a blaze aboard a 30-foot Catalina sailboat called Tippy
Canoe, owned by Tyler Weggel of Port Washington, N.Y.

There were no injuries. The vessel, a total loss, now lies partially
submerged, a black shell, in shallow water at the foot of Grove street.

One of Menemsha’s most respected fishermen, Jonathan Mayhew, has quit fishing the high seas.

Mr. Mayhew recently sold his federal permits, giving up his license to ply the offshore waters of Georges Bank for cod, flounder and other fish.

A Vineyard native who grew up in a family of generations of fishermen, Mr. Mayhew, 56, said a chapter has closed in his life. He said he worries now for the future of young local fishermen facing current fishing rules.

The changes that have come down are killing the fisherman and not necessarily saving fish, he said.

After 27 years of building the wooden boats of other men's dreams, Nathaniel Benjamin, 60, built a boat for himself.

They christened her Charlotte under parted skies on Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of onlookers spilled onto the beach, down to the end of the dock and up to a rooftop of the boat yard. The potluck was plentiful and the beer flowed from a rowboat packed with ice. Boat launchings mean big parties at Gannon & Benjamin and this was no exception.

MYSTIC SEAPORT, Conn. — A 60-foot Eastern dragger named Roann, a living example of Vineyard maritime history, was relaunched under sunny skies here last Saturday.

The Roann is the last of an era. No one makes fishing boats like this anymore.

The restoration of the Roann cost $1.2 million, lasted three and a half years, and involved a team of 50 boat builders, aided by another 50 volunteers. Mystic Seaport Museum, the owner of the Roann, organized the restoration of the vessel at its on-site shipyard.

Fifty-two boats are scheduled to start tomorrow in the 31st annual George Moffett Memorial Sailboat Race. Sailboats from 60 to 17 feet will participate in the race which begins off Eastville Beach in Oak Bluffs.

The sailboats will race across Nantucket Sound on a course still to be determined.

For nearly a decade, the town of Tisbury has served as the reluctant steward of a 45-foot sailboat, rotting behind the Department of Public Works building and deserted by an owner who has been almost impossible to track down.

The town has been unable to move or destroy the boat, but that may soon change.